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Episode 58: Superman/Batman Apocalypse

After a short break in regular shows, we are back with another Tooncast Beyond crossover feature. This time, we’re taking a look at Superman/Batman apocalypse. Based on the Jeph Loeb comic with illustrations by Michael Turner, this animated adaption is about the introduction of Supergirl into the post-crisis universe.

We’re not too crazy about the Turner-inspired art style. The story is…okay, if not for the total pussification of Darkseid.

And could someone please, PLEASE knock Jeph Loeb’s dork out of his hand whenever Batman is involved in something?!!? There’s no way Batman should be in a battle against an army of Doomsdays. I don’t care how underpowered they are. they were killing Amazons! Stop it! Stop it! STOP IT!!!

Okay, look people. Batman is a badass. He's taken on beings many times his strength and won. But under no circumstances should he be holding his own against an army of Doomsdays!

Seriously! What' with Superman's face?!??! Oh yeah... Michael Turner.

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IT'S THE SAME FACE!!!

On the other hand, does Wonder Woman EVER look bad? I mean, aside from the JMS version.

About Mr.Neil

7 thoughts on “Episode 58: Superman/Batman Apocalypse”

I’m typing this as I listen, so I apologize if it gets a little long ^^; iTunes is going bazonkers, so I thought I’d just give up and post this reaction here.

1) Batman/Superman: Apocalypse should win the award for most misleading cover/title ever. That being said, I still liked the movie. I’m speaking as someone who only watched the movie and didn’t read the comics that inspired it. I think the reason a lot of people didn’t jump for joy when this movie came out, is because it was marketed as Superman/Batman product, but it was a movie centered on Supergirl.

2) I also hated the Public Enemies character designs. The way the faces were drawn didn’t allow for a lot, if any, emotion. They looked like this: -_- all the time. Not as bad as Superman: Doomsday (Superman looked so horrible!!), but yeah, it was still pretty bad. I really enjoyed the designs in this movie. Man lips still kind of creep me out in animated movies, not gonna lie, but I think that was the only thing I looked sideways at as far as drawing style was concerned.

3) The pacing of the movie felt off for the first half. It hit its stride in the middle and it went strong until the end of the movie. They packed a LOT of stuff into the last half of the movie, which I love. Action choreography was fantastic. I loved the Wonder Woman fight scenes especially.

4) Story wise, I feel like they pussed out, like they were afraid to make this movie REALLY about Kera. The Wonder Woman movie, I thought, was really great. Not without it’s flaws, but it’s still one of my favorite DC Animated movies. But it didn’t do as well as they’d have liked. I feel like they’re afraid to go the “female lead” route now, and so they jammed in the Amazons, Batman, Superman, Apocalypse, the Furies. So while this movie was “about” Kera, Kera wasn’t in it enough and so the story felt a little muddled to me.

5) Darkseid. Not as badarse as I’d like for him to be. With a PG-13 rating, I was hoping they’d be able to cut loose with him, but they didn’t. Why? It’s a little sad.

6) The Doomsday army. Ok, maybe they were weak replications, but I still think they went down WAY too easily. I just… I dunno, the presence of that army just sort of bugged me.

7) Themyscira. -_- ’nuff said. But the poor Amazons. I feel like every time you see them as a group, a metric crap ton of them are killed in battle. How are there any Amazons left?! Do they regenerate on the island or something? lol

8.) Harbinger and everyone looking the same. When she wakes up near the beginning of the movie, I was like “what the hell is Kera doing on Themyscria?” then I realize a few minutes later, “oh, that was someone else.” Her vision confused me a little. Can she only see the future, does she see and ‘know’ the future, does she only get a bad feeling? How did she not know that she was the one who was going to die? I don’t think that was presented as clearly as it could have been, and the worse thing is I don’t know if the creators were being ambiguous on purpose, of it it was just a misstep on their part.

Wow, I’m up late. Hey, time to respond to a listener comment! I’ll just comment on each of your points.

1. Yes, exactly. Not only was I surprised to see that it was a Supergirl story, but I was like, “Oh, hey. Wonder Woman is in this, too!” I don’t mind that it’s that way, but I think the title and cover should have reflected this. I assume that the comics got a pass, because there would have been issues without Wonder Woman, but for a movie, it seems awfully strange that Superman and Batman got top billing but not anyone else.

2. The look-alike faces were a problem (we’ll get to them in a moment), but as far as the designs go, I didn’t mind them as animation designs. Like I said in the show, Superman was the only one that really bothered me.

3. Someone on the DC Animated staff not only loves his Greco-Roman wrestling, but he loves giving those movies to Wonder Woman, and I highly approve of that.

4. This goes hand-in-hand with the title of the movie. This should have been adapted into more of a Kara story, and Supergirl should definitely have been in the title. This seems to be a recurring problem where they take the pacing of the comics and apply it to the movies, but it just doesn’t work that way. The two are entirely different forms of expression.

5. Yeah, not only at the end but also when Batman confronted him. I think of Batman as the ultimate detective; not as someone who can take on Darkseid in a physical confrontation. I mean, even Superman should not have gotten hits on him the way he did.

6. Totally agree. Making them go down like chumps (again, Batman could beat them) really made it meaningless to even have them their. I mean, they could just have easily been clones of Solomon Grundy.

7. Yeah, the Amazons were definitely the disposable grunts of the movie. But then again, usually you only see nameless male characters get killed off. It’s kind of a sign of the times changing that we can now do that with female characters. So…um…you’ve come a long way…baby? No? Okay, never mind that.

8. YES! EXACTLY! That’s what I was talking about when I said that seeing Harbringer wake up threw me off. I thought it was Kara. I’m glad someone else pointed that out.

Yup an average movie to me. I’m relieved see you guys got as confused as I was with Harbinger when she woke up. I remember when we discussed that Darkside fight briefly. Didn’t he leave them beaten on the ground and then left them thinking he was the best only to get tricked to walking ino deep space, cant remember clearly on that.

Also Naruto, read the manga before seeing the anime way back. Saw the first episode, hated his english voice for one and when I heard that catch phrase my ears sort a popped, haven’t seen an episode of that anime in a long time. I’m glad too, seems too congested with filler to even try to find where I am in the manga now. Oh and lets not even start with Bleach, good night. Whenever you guys get to that section again it will be interesting to hear. I’m curious to see who will be there to guest talk about the SJ Era if it ever comes to be.

Yeah, the ending of Apocalypse was something like that. Kara gets the device that controls the boom tube and sets it to the depths of space. I mean…OOPS! We just spoiled the end of the movie (sorta). Oh well. Trust me, kiddaroos, you ain’t missin’ much.

Naruto is one of the most heinous dubs I’ve ever seen, and I put up with a lot of crappy dubs. Because of that show, I have permanently burned into my brain that sound clip of “BELIEVE IT!!!”.

Naruto came down with a bad case of what I call Heros Syndrome. It had a good premise, it was familiar enough to be comfortable but unique enough to be compelling. Instead of telling a good story with a strong beginning, middle and end, they started telling a story and refused to stop. The result: something that should by all rights be good, turned into a stagnant pile of crap. The dub just made it 49304801832 times worse. It’s needlessly, painfully, offensively bad.

You brought me out of the woodwork again, guys. I loved the supplementals. That comment about the four-hour best of 2011 GCRN episode had me laughing out loud, particularly the comment about the What’s on Joe Mind? portion. I love me some GI Joe. I do. Seriously. I watch it and it transports me back to my youth. And I like the fun character ensembles. I like the military equipment and the implausible story lines. It’s just good cartoon fun. It was action-oriented for young boys (and girls, I suppose). It did what it was designed to do. I can still watch it and enjoy it. But the WOJM guys lose me with some of the things they say. I understand that they’re major fans, but it alienated me.

The argument that there wouldn’t be Transformers if there hadn’t been GI Joe is a very flawed argument. It was funny hearing you guys calling them out on it. GI Joe was a more successful comic, thanks to Larry Hamma and Herb Trempe and others who worked so hard on it, but Transformers has resonated more. It has more to offer, and the implausible aspects are easier to swallow, such as a giant robot shrinking down to a tiny cassette player or a gun. Lady J having an arrow that can encase her and Flint in an air bubble under water…eh, not so much. But it was fun. And this is coming from a fan who watched GI Joe growing up and LOVED it. I didn’t get to see Transformers much because we didn’t get the channel it was run on. But I will say this, GI Joe Renegades was a kick-ass show and it mopped the floor with TF Prime. Too bad that The Hub probably won’t pick up the series again.